Gate hinge



Sept. 25, 1956 w. T. cox

GATE HINGE Filed Dec. 9, 195s m qty"? fl 3 WILLIAM I 00x INVENTOR w K v I v IIIIIIIIIIEIIHL.. lnh u ATTORNEY United States Patent GATE HINGE William T. Cox, Dallas, Tex.

Application December 9, 1953, Serial No. 397,104

Claims. (Cl. 16-158) This invention relates generally to fences but more particularly to fence fittings in the form of gate hinges of improved structural design and manufacture.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a gate hinge having superior qualities over the conventional hinges usually employed for supporting gates of the wellknown chain link type fences, the conventional hinges usually being of cast iron, not conveniently adaptable to different sized terminal posts and vertical gate frame members whereas the hinge parts of the invention, being cold formed, are conformable to posts and gate members of different diameters and are interchangeable with corresponding parts of companion fittings. Of more importance, however, the improved gate hinge can be installed or removed at any time with ease as compared with conventional hinge parts which are installed when the gate is constructed and cannot be removed without dismantling the gate.

Broadly, the invention consists of a two-part terminal post clamp, each part being made to conform with a side of the post, the parts being clamped to the post by bolts at opposite ends thereof and having their outer ends turned into confronting relationship and machined to meet in flush relationship to accommodate different sizes of the vertical member of the gate which the hinge is to support. A complementary hinge member is formed into generally U-shape to embrace the vertical gate frame member and is joined at its ends to the terminal post clamp by one of its bolts but is conformable to vertical gate frame members of different diameters.

Other objects will appear as the description proceeds when considered with the annexed drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a fragmentary elevational view of a fence and gate showing the invention installed.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the hinge assembly.

Figure 3 is a plan view thereof, and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view showing the adaptation of the hinge to fence and gate parts of a larger diameter.

Continuing with a more detailed description of the drawing, reference is made primarily to Figure 1 wherein it) denotes a conventional chain link fence attached to a terminal or gate post 11 by a series of tension bands 12. The gate 13 is of conventional construction, includ ing horizontal frame members 14 and vertical frame members 15, only one of which appears in Figure 1 and is in adjacent parallelism with the post 11. Reference numeral 16 denotes the hinges of the invention which support the gate 13.

Each hinge 16 is composed of a terminal post clamp consisting of cold rolled steel parts 17 and 18 of identical shape. The part 17 is formed with a semi-circular bend 19 interm diate its ends to conform generally to the surface of the post 11 on one side thereof. The rear end 29 of the part 17 extends in relative parallelism with the rear end 21 of the complementary part 18 of the clamp and each has a pair of vertically spaced holes 22 for the reception of bolts 23 on which are threaded nuts 37.

Patented Sept. 25, 1956 The metal straps or parts 17 and 18 of the clamp have portions 24 and 25, respectively, which extend in relative parallelism opposite the ends 20 and 21 thereof and each portion 24 and 25 has a pair of matching holes 26 for the reception of bolts 27 which cooperate with the bolts 23 to secure the clamp on the post 11. Auxiliary holding means consist of set screws 28 which are threaded into holes 29 in the curved portions 19 of the clamp parts 17 and 18.

The portions 24 and 25 of the clamp members 17 and 18 have inwardly turned ends 30 and 31 respectively, the extremities of which are in confronting relationship as shown, and are machined to fit in flush engagement.

The bolts 27, in addition to holding the clamp on the terminal post 11 also form the attaching means for a U-shaped bracket 32 which engages the vertical gate member 15. The bracket 32 consists of a cold rolled steel strap whose legs 33 are each provided with a pair of holes 34 adapted to match the holes 26 in the portions 24 and 25 of the clamp. The bolts 27 which hold the clamp members 17 and 18 at one end also hold the bracket 32 in place.

The bight portion 35 is made to conform to the size of the member 15 which it is to embrace and in the smaller sizes, the legs 33 of the brace are bent slightly inward as indicated at 36 in Figures 2 and 3 to better conform to the pipe 15. In larger sizes, however, such bends are unnecessary, as indicated in Figure 4.

It is evident from the foregoing that the parts of the described hinge can be applied to fence and gate parts of different sizes within limits without requiring larger or smaller hinge parts and further, the bracket and the clamp are interchangeable with larger or smaller corresponding parts, that is to say, the bracket 32 may be applied to a larger or smaller clamp and the clamp may accommodate brackets of different sizes. Moreover, the hinge parts are attachable and removable conveniently and quickly from their relative positions on a fence post and gate without disturbing other elements of the fence or gate construction.

Manifestly, the construction as shown and described is capable of some modification and such modification as may be construed to fall within the scope and meaning of the appended claims is also considered to be within the spirit and intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A gate hinge comprising a clamp in two complementary parts of identical construction, each part consisting of an elongated strap curved intermediate its ends to conform to a side of a cylindrical gate post and having an extended rear end in parallelism with the extended end of the companion clamp part, said extended ends having matching holes for the reception of clamping bolts, the opposite ends of said straps being extended in spaced apart parallelism and bent into confronting relationship at obtuse angles and abutting each other, a substantially U-shaped bracket of malleable material having its legs overlapping the parallel portion of the ends of said clamp parts adjacent the abutting ends thereof and adapted to embrace an upright member of a gate and hold said upright member against the point of abutment of the ends of said clamp parts and means for jointly securing said bracket to said clamp parts and for clamping said parts onto said gate post.

2. A gate hinge comprising a pair of elongated and identical strap members having oppositely curved portions intermediate their ends to embrace opposite sides of a fence post, the rear ends of said members extending rearwardly in relative parallelism and provided with matched bolt receiving holes, extended opposite portions of said strap members being in relatively spaced apart parallelism and having inwardly turned confronting ends in abutting relationship, a U-shaped bracket having its legs in overlapped relationship with the extended opposite portions of said strap members and adapted to rotatably embrace a vertical portion of a gate and means for securing the legs of said bracket to said strap members, said means {also holding said opposite portions of said strap members in clamping engagement with said fence post.

3. A gate hinge comprising identical strap members curved intermediate their ends to engage opposite sides of a gate post and having relatively parallel and spaced apart portions adapted to extend toward a gate, said extended portions having their ends bent inwardly to ward each other into confronting and abutting relationship, a U-shaped bracket adapted to embrace a vertical portion of a gate and whose legs overlap the extended parallel portions of said strap members adjacent said abutting ends, means for securing together the ends of said straps opposite said extended portions and a common means for securing said extended portions one to the other and for securing the legs of said bracket to said extended portions.

4. -A gate hinge comprising identical strap members curved intermediate their ends to engage opposite sides of a gate post and having relatively parallel portions adapted to extend toward a gate, said extended portions having their ends turned into confronting and abutting relationship, .a U-shaped bracket of malleable metal adapted to embrace a vertical portion of a gate and Whose legs overlap the extended portions of said strap members, said strap members having relatively parallel rearwardly extending ends joined together in clamping engagement on said gate post and means passing jointly through said extended portions and the legs of said bracket to hold said strap members and bracket in fixed relationship.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a gate hinge comprising a clamp member composed of a pair of straps in parallelism each being outwardly curved intermediate its ends, the ends of said straps at one end of said clamp member being bent inwardly into flush abutting relationship, a U-shaped bracket having legs overlapping the parallel portions of said straps adjacent said bent ends and transverse means extending through the parallel ortions of said straps on opposite sides of the outwardly curved portions thereof to clampingly hold said straps on an object and to secure said bracket in fixed relation to said clamp member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,180,069 Osgood Apr. 18, 1916 

